OceanSide church of Christ

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WHAT NOW?

Victor M. Eskew

 

            It seems as if our entire world has been put on hold for the last four to six weeks due to COVID-19.  Many are still on lockdown.  Some are just beginning to go back to “normal,” or, what some refer to as the “new normal.”  It is almost as if we are learning to walk all over again.  We step out of our houses, and we ask:  “What now?”  We are back in the assembly for the first time in a month.  It is exciting.  It is fulfilling.  However, down in our hearts we might be asking the question:  “What now?”

            In this writer’s mind, Paul answers our question in Philippians 3:13-14.  “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended:  but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Paul’s gives us three actions upon which we need to focus.  First, we need to FORGET.  The things we need to forget are “those things which are behind.”  The things which are behind are gone forever.  They cannot be recovered.  Dwelling on what has happened in the past will not change it.  Yes, we can learn from the past, but dwelling on it, worrying about it, and constantly dissecting it will not help us move forward.  Let’s forget what has been lost. 

            Second, Paul tells us to REACH FORTH.  The things to which we reach are the “things which are before.”  There are still things that are yet to come in our lives.  The past does not stop the future from occurring.  Therefore, we need to reach forth unto those things.  We still have our dreams, our ambitions, and our hopes before us.  It is time to refocus our efforts.  The past events caused us to live day-by-day.  We did not think too much about tomorrow.  We certainly were not focus upon what might happen weeks and months from now.  Now that those things are behind us, we can look forward with hope and confidence to what lies ahead. 

            Third, we need to PRESS TOWARD.  As Christians, our lives are not wrapped up in the coronavirus.  We have something that is much more important to us.  We have a prize that awaits us.  However, in order to receive it, we must press forward.  This involves effort and labor on our parts.  It means exerting all of our energy in order to get there.  In times of crisis, we have a tendency to deal only with the immediate challenge before us.  Our labors seem to be directed toward self-preservation rather than soul-preservation.  With the past behind us, we can now exert our energies once again toward the finish line. 

            There may be some nay-sayers in regard to this admonition.  They may believe that it is too early to forget the past.  They may not have the energy to reach forth and press toward future things.  They may believe that we need to continue to drift for a few more weeks or months to see how things will go.  The question is:  “Can we afford to do that?”  Sometimes the consequences of our actions are worse than the cause of our actions.  In the book of Nehemiah, this was what the children of Israel were doing.  They were released from Babylonian captivity.  They had returned to their homeland.  But, they were lifeless.  They were not moving forward.  Here is how the conditions were described to the king’s cupbearer:  “And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach:  the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire” (Neh. 1:3).  Was this what God desired of His people?  No.  They should have been reaching forth and pressing on, but they were not.  Fortunately, Nehemiah changed all of that.  In less than two months, he moved the people forward and completed the wall of Jerusalem.  “So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days” (Neh. 6:15).

            At OceanSide, we have some things that desperately need our attention just as the wall of Jerusalem did in Nehemiah’s day.  We need to get back to assembling as the people of God on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7; Heb. 10:25).  We need to get our Bible classes for all ages up and running in order for us to continue to deepen our knowledge of God’s Word (I Pet. 3:18).  We need to get our minds and efforts set on our goal for 2020:  “We Will Go…I Will Go” (Mark 16:15).  We need to put our efforts back into the work of the church (I Cor. 15:58).  Our clothing closet was doing well before the virus hit.  Too, we were beginning to look forward to our Vacation Bible School in the month of June.  We may not be able to implement these things fully, but we can begin to look at when and how we can do these things in the near future.  Yes, it is time to forget the past and reach forth to the future. 

            Dear brethren, the last four to six weeks has been extremely depressing.  We were thrown into a battle that most of us have never faced.  Things in our lives changed radically and overnight (e.g, kids homeschooling every day).  Our everyday lives were brought into a state of confinement.  The news media seem to report on nothing but COVID-19, daily infections, daily hospital admissions, and daily deaths.  We heard about social distancing, gloves, masks, and hand-washing over and over again.  Ventilators, hospital beds, testing, and the need for more healthcare workers in certain areas were often the headlines.  Occasionally, we would hear a positive news story about someone taking positive action in the midst of this epidemic, but it was not very often.  These kinds of things are deflating.  The economy was the best it had ever been.  Spring was here.  Summer activities were gearing up.  Plans were being made for summer activities.  We were ready to go, but oh no.  Everything came to a dead halt.  How depressing!

            It is now time to begin to press on the accelerator.  It is time to quit sitting and begin to move forward.  It is time to dream and plan again.  The Hebrew Christians to whom Paul wrote, were despondent over their circumstances in the first century.  In Hebrews 12, the apostle encourages them with these words:  “Wherefore lift up the hands which hand down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed” (vs. 12-13).  He was exhorting them to do what he was exhorting the Philippians to do.  Forget the things which are behind.  Reach forth unto the things which are before.  Press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.  It sounds like wonderful advice to me.  Let’s do it!